The Magic of Wee Willie Winkie Wanes

For the last 2 years or more, I have ended the bedtime stories with the twins by reciting Mother Goose's "Wee Willie Winkie". For those of you who don't remember, this is how it goes:

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
Upstairs, downstairs in his nightgown
Rapping on the windows
Crying through the locks
"Are all the children in their beds
It's past eight o'clock!"

I knock on the wall without the twins seeing me, gasp, and cry out "It's Wee Willie Winkie! Run!". My little angels leap into bed and demand hugs and kisses.

The other night the twins and I read books on Katie's bed. When we were finished, I recited the poem, gasped, and warned them of Wee Willie Winkie's imminent arrival. Bethie raced to her bed. Katie yelled "Don't worry, Bethie, it was just me". She then knocked on the wall to demonstrate. Bethie, feeling very much relieved, climbed back into bed with Katie.

Another "Girls Day"

When the twins don't go to daycare for whatever reason, I tell them we are having a "Girls Day". They love this! They feel special because they think that I am desperate to keep them home and to spend some quality time with them. Emilie has been sick for the last two days, and called today to say that daycare would be closed on Wednesday too. I am sick of having Girls Days! After having spent two days alone with all three girls, I have two requests to make of all of you who are reading this:

1. Please forward me a quick and yummy recipe for sugar cookies so I can make cookies with the kidlings. I got a super cool cookie cutter thingy for Xmas and they would love making the shapes!
2. Pray that Emilie makes a speedy recovery!!!!

Strange Bedfellows

These are the toys that the twins need in their beds in order to sleep! Please note the BALLS!

Love, Katie

Use It Or Lose It

Some people expressed disappointment because of the way I ended the "strike" (for those of you who need a refresher, please refer to blogs "Day 8 of the Strike" and "Day 23 of the Strike"). Yesterday, I was reminded of the expression "He who laughs last, laughs loudest".

We had a couple who were interested in buying our spare crib come to our home. When they arrived, all of us (including my three children) went up to my bedroom. Bethie walked in and shouted with delight, "Daddy! You cleaned up Mummy's bedroom". She spread her arms out and twirled around, like Maria Von Trapp on the mountain tops in The Sound of Music, and said "Look everybody, Daddy cleaned up the bedroom! Doesn't it look nice?". Yup, I was super embarrassed!

The couple liked the crib and decided to buy it. As Dan was taking it apart, the woman asked if Dan's dresser was for sale. I told her it was. This caught Dan's attention. He expressed some concern and said, "I still need it!". To which I replied, "No you don't". Then I sold his one and only dresser. In the blink of an eye, Dan lost two of the three places where he stores his clothes: the crib and the dresser. If only I could sell the floor...!

I confess, I felt a little bit sorry for Dan as he emptied his clothes onto the bed and said rather pathetically "Where am I going to put my clothes now?". I replied "With the rest of them, on the floor!".

For those of you who may feel sorry for Dan (you must be a man!), we had purchased a bedroom set on Sunday and I was going to get rid of his dresser anyway. I had intended to wait 6-8 weeks until the new dresser was delivered, but Dan will muddle through.

A side note from Dan: He thought the name of this entry should have been titled "Use It And Lose It Anyway".

Musical Genius

All my kids love music. From well before they could walk, they would bee bop around. They love to sing and to dance. And they love to play musical instruments! Sarah is no exception. This morning, Sarah figured out how to play Bethie's recorder (or "clarinet" as we call it in our house). I couldn't believe it! She plays as well as the twins. Sarah loved being able to produce a noise, and changed her own pitch to effect the sound coming from the recorder!

Sarah plays with the pianos, the guitars (so does Dan. Great gift, Dad!), and now the recorder. Watch out Katie and Bethie, she's moving on to the xylophone!

Don't Jump on the Bed!

Yesterday, Dan and I went shopping for a new bedroom set with all three girls. From the moment we entered the store, every third sentence out of my mouth was either "Don't jump on the beds!" or "Get your boots off the sofas!". Finally, I took their boots off and the focus became keeping them from jumping on every bed in sight. In order to allow Dan and I 5 seconds to look at the beds, the salesperson, Sandi (with an "i"), took the twins for a walk around the store and gave them each a helium balloon on a stick. I found the twins wandering the store ALONE (thanks, Sandi) calling "Mummy, where are you?".

Within minutes, Katie's balloon came off her stick and floated to the ceiling. Katie, Bethie, and I panicked and demanded that Dan use his superpowers to retrieve it. Dan masterfully tried to reinsert the stick back into the plastic thingy that was attached to the balloon. He almost had it (I was super impressed) but, alas, it bounced away. The panic levels increased dramatically! The balloon had stopped above a an expensive display bedroom set. I told Dan to stand on the bed and grab it. Dan really didn't want to do it, but his love for our family won out. So my 35 year old husband stood on the bed, reached for the balloon, and knocked it a little bit further away. He jumped on the bed, and missed. He jumped again and Our Hero caught that naughty balloon! The girls were thrilled. So thrilled that they shouted "GOOD JOB JUMPING ON THE BED, DADDY!". The funny thing about our girls is that they kept repeating this until Dan said "Thank you", but all Dan was saying was "Stop saying that! Don't shout!". I was no help. I was bent over laughing!

The Baby Saga

Bethie wants me to instruct mothers everywhere to return their babies to the baby store, which is next to the toy store (does she mean Babies R Us???). That way, we can go to the baby store and pick out another baby.

I think I may have figured out why Bethie wants another baby so badly. After her bath last night, she said that we need to get Grayson (my anonymous friend's 10 month old baby) and keep him at our house because there are no more babies left. I said if we took Grayson than his Mummy would be very sad. Bethie said that Ms. Anonymous was going to take Sarah. I asked her why Ms. Anonymous would do that. Bethie said "Because all of the ladies need 2 babies!".

I think that Bethie is a little bit confused as to why Sarah doesn't have a twin.

The Great Negotiator

When Katie was about 18 months old, I started saying that she is "a natural leader who lacks the gentle art of persuasion". It cracked me up because it was sooooo true. Now, she is The Great Negotiator. Most of Katie's sentences begin with "How about...". She never just accepts things. She negotiates everything. The best part is that she's really good at it. She has used logic to persuade me on many occasions!

Last night, Bethie used her own tactic. Dan was scooping out ice cream for himself and the girls. His had an extra scoop in it because he's 35 (can you believe it?!), he's 3 feet taller than the twins, and he works hard for the money that provides the ice cream. Bethie saw the three bowls, pointed to Dan's and said "This one is for me". Dan said "No, it's mine. You can have the other one". Bethie took a closer look at the one she was offered and went ballistic! She cried and ran into the living room. Dan coaxed her back with the offer of a little bit more ice cream in her bowl. When she sat down at the table she said "I left because Daddy didn't give me very much ice cream. Then he added more and I came back." In saying that, we realised that Bethie is the true negotiator: She is willing to walk away from the table until her demands are fulfilled.

Why We Need A Monkey

This is the conversation Dan had with Bethie last night at dinner:

Bethie: Daddy, can we have another baby?
Dan: No. Sarah is the last baby.
Bethie: But I want another one!
Dan: How about a dog?
Bethie: No! A dog will pee on our baby!
Dan: How about a horse?
Bethie: No!
Dan: How about a monkey?

This is the conversation I had with Bethie this morning:

Bethie: Mummy, Daddy is going to buy us a monkey!
Me: What?!
Bethie: There are no more babies left.
Me: There are no babies left? Maybe Emilie wants a baby.
Bethie: Daddy can buy her a monkey, too!

Day 23 of the Strike

I surrender. I give up. I am waving the white flag. Dan has outlasted me. His clothes are piled a mile high is the crib that is still up in our bedroom, and he seems to enjoy that set up. He even separated the massive mountain into functional piles! However, I am selling the crib and I can't have people come to look at it with Dan's laundry (albeit clean) filling the crib. So, after I post this, I am tackling it. I have learned my lesson: Dan is lazy.

Dan, too, has learned a lesson: empty your own damn pockets. He learned this the hard way after I washed his wallet (not intentionally). I have now been "banned" from washing his uniform. Is that all it took to get him to do his own laundry?????

Will Wonders Ever Cease

Sarah climbed the stairs today. From bottom to top without any assistance. She did it quickly! The twins raced up the stairs, staying a step or two in front of her shouting, "Go, Nu Nu! You can do it!". What prompted her to perform this amazing task? Dan had shouted from the top of the stairs "Come on, babies. It's time for a bath". Sarah wanted in on the action!

A Novel About My Sickies

I got burned with Sarah's pneumonia. I didn't think she was sick and she was very sick. I wasn't going to let this happen twice.

Last Wednesday, Katie complained that she had "water in her ears". Thursday night she had a fever and complained again about her ears. Friday night she had a fever and complained about her ears again! Saturday morning, I was convinced. I would take her to the doctor's office. I would take Bethie too because there is nothing I hate more than going to the clinic every two days. I would also take Sarah because she was doing this wonky head tilt that made me think she may have an earache.

The clinic opened at 10am Saturday morning. They were closing the walk-in list when I arrived at 10:30am, but I managed to get my 3 kids in. However, they wouldn't be seen until 2pm. So we went to Mum's. We didn't go grocery shopping, we didn't go to dance class, we didn't clean the house, we didn't do laundry. We had McDonald's for lunch, put Sarah down for a nap, and waited.

The doctor was great (all of them are at this clinic, we are super lucky to have found them!). As he walked in the exam room, Katie said "Doctor, I'm sick!". This made me happy. Normally I take my sick children to the doctor's and they behave like perfectly healthy children. I have been known to forcibly whisper "Act sick!". The doctor examined Katie and said she was 100% fine. I didn't believe him and made him exam her again (normally I would go to a different doctor for a second opinion instead of just asking the same doctor to do the work twice, but I was running out of time!). She was still perfectly fine. Bethie was perfectly fine. Sarah was perfectly fine. My day was shot. It was 3:30pm before we got home!

I must confess I was a bit bitter. I felt it was a waste of a day. I hate rushing healthy children to the doctor's (I can't stress that enough!). I was complaining to Mum about the outcome of the doctor's visit when she said "Aren't you happy that they're healthy?". Ummm... sure. But I would prefer being able to detect health myself instead of ruining a day!!!

Post Script: The next day, Bethie had a fever and spent the day lying on the couch. You can't even begin to imagine how much this irked me! Why couldn't she have been like that while we were in the doctor's office?!

In Need Of A Little Comfort

All my children have comfort items. Sarah is not the exception. She loves and adores a blankie given to her by her anonymous godmother at birth. She has a particular way to hold it and loves to cuddle with it. It is Sarah's "go slow". Notice the her thumb in the picture? She took it out of her mouth to smile for the camera (my children are well trained when it comes to photography!), but it very quickly popped back in!

Bethie Kangaroo

Bethie decided that she no longer wanted to be a bear but wanted to be a kangaroo instead (her words). This was the result.

Quick Thinking

Last night, the five of us were having dinner. The twins wanted some ice cream. We told them that they each had to eat 5 pieces of chicken first. As Katie ate hers, we counted along together. As Bethie started to eat her chicken, Dan said "OK, can you count backwards this time?". Without missing a beat, Bethie turned her back to the table and counted "1,2,3,4,5". She could, in fact, count backwards!

A Safe Spot for Sarah

Sarah finds safety under the kitchen table as the twins eat their breakfasts.